The Colorado River Region and John Wesley Powell
The Colorado River Region and John Wesley Powell

Author: Mary C. Rabbitt

Publisher:

Published: 2001-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780898755565

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Over a century ago John Wesley Powell - teacher, scientist, and veteran of the Civil War - set out to explore the unknown reaches of the Colorado River. He emerged from the forbidding canyons with a compelling interest in the nature of the western lands and how they could be developed for the greatest benefit to the Nation. A man gifted with imagination, yet always tempered by the scientist's appreciation for facts, Powell became one of the country's most vigorous proponents for the orderly development of the public domain and the wise use of its natural resources.Throughout his lifetime, Powell stood firm in his belief that science, as a sound basis for human progress, should serve all the people, and he played an important role in organizing and directing scientific activities of the U.S. Government. His zeal led to the establishment of the Geological Survey in the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ethnology in the Smithsonian Institution. He also helped to found the National Geographic Society.This collection of papers was originally published as a U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper in 1969 to honor Powell on the 100th anniversary of his exploration of the Colorado River. It includes:John Wesley Powell: Pioneer Statesman of Federal Science by Mary C. RabbittStratified Rocks of the Grand Canyon by Edwin D. McKeeGeologic History of the Colorado River by Charles D. HuntThe Rapids and the Pools - Grand Canyon by Luna B. Leopold

Vision and Place
Vision and Place

Author: Jason Robison

Publisher: University of California Press

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0520375785

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Colorado River Basin’s importance cannot be overstated. Its living river system supplies water to roughly forty million people, contains Grand Canyon National Park, Bears Ears National Monument, and wide swaths of other public lands, and encompasses ancestral homelands of twenty-nine Native American tribes. John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran, explorer, scientist, and adept federal administrator, articulated a vision for Euro-American colonization of the “Arid Region” that has indelibly shaped the basin—a pattern that looms large not only in western history, but also in contemporary environmental and social policy. One hundred and fifty years after Powell’s epic 1869 Colorado River Exploring Expedition, this volume revisits Powell’s vision, examining ts historical character and its relative influence on the Colorado River Basin’s cultural and physical landscape in modern times. In three parts, the volume unpacks Powell’s ideas on water, public lands, and Native Americans—ideas at once innovative, complex, and contradictory. With an eye toward climate change and a host of related challenges facing the basin, the volume turns to the future, reflecting on how—if at all—Powell’s legacy might inform our collective vision as we navigate a new “Great Unknown.”